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Who We Are

Meet the People Behind Childbirth.org

Articles - Whitney Akin

Whintey is a doula, attending births in the Plano, Richardson, Dallas area of Texas. She has been married for five years, they have two wonderful children that they enjoy very much. Other than her doula business she is a stay at home mom.

Articles - Debi Fatherree

Debi has been in nursing for 10 years. All of it has been with a childbirth focus. She has worked postpartum, nursery, NICU and have cross trained some in Labor and Delivery. She started a infant home visit and prenatal educational program in her rural home town and was nominated for Maternal Child nurse of the Year in 1995. She and her husband were transferred with his company 1 1/2 years ago and she started teaching chidlbirth classes and doing breastfeeding classes and consults. She also works as a doula and has her own business, StorkHelp. Debi is mom to three wonderful children - Katie, age 8, Hannah, age 6 and Bobby, age3 (my spit fire.) She and her husband have been married thirteen years, a great accomplishment these days. She currently teaches in the hospital setting and privately through StorkHelp.

Articles - Cyndi Klausing

Cyndi has been at Childbirth.org for about a year. She ran our Ask A Nurse section of Childbirth.org. She is a childbirth educator, certified with Lamaze International, a registered nurse working in the newborn nursery, and the mother of four beautiful boys.

Ask the Childbirth Educator - Karen Klimsak-Ungar, CCE

Karen has been a certified childbirth educator for Birth Works® since 1996. She is currently Managing Editor for the Birth Works newsletter, sits on the Birth Works Board of Directors, and serves on their National Trainee Review Committee. A happily married mother of two, she also continues to teach Birth Works classes as well as private classes.

Ask the Doula - Ilana Stein

Ilana has been working professionally with pregnant women since 1983 as a childbirth educator, labor assistant and breastfeeding consultant. She was originally certified by the American Academy of Husband-Coached Childbirth (The Bradley Method), The Association of Labor Assistants and Childbirth Educators (ALACE), and Doulas of North America (DONA). She teachs the ALACE Labor Assistant training workshop nationwide. She has spoken at conferences and at the New York University Graduate Program in Midwifery about labor support. She is a Positive Pregnancy and Parenting Fitness (PPPF) instructor and La Leche League Leader. She is also a certified personal trainer and fitness instructor at the local YMCA. She volunteers as the coordinator of the annual New York Area YM-YWCA Women’s Wellness Weekend.

Ask the Lactation Consultant - Stephanie Ryan

Stephanie Ryan RN BSN ICCE IBCLC is a Registered Nurse with over 11 years experience in maternity nursing. She is a certified childbirth educator through ICEA. She has been a breastfeeding counselor since 1994 and became certified as a Lactation Consultant through the IBCLC in 1996. She currently works part time in a small community hospital. She is a happily married and has four sons - Scotty is 14, Joe is 9, Nicholas is 7, and Alex is 4.

Ask the Midwife - Vickii Gervais

Vickii Gervais, CPM, LM, IBCLC is a homebirth midwife and lactation consultant in Chicago and has attended 600 births. She knows that birth is beautiful, normal and transformational, and she encourages women's inherent strengths to help them create peaceful transitions for themselves and their babies.

Ask the Midwife - Ollie Anne Hamilton

Ollie is a lisenced Direct Entry Midwife and Certified Professional Midwife in Montana. As a midwife for over 20 years, she has primaried over 600 births. She has three children Two were born at home, all born naturally.

Ask the Midwife - Pat Sonnenstuhl

Pat is a semi-retired nurse midwife with over 30 years of experience in health care (first as an RN, then as an ARNP, CNM). She has experience with hospital nursing/midwifery and home and birth center midwifery.

Ask the Nurse - Shirley Wingate

Shirley Wingate RNC CD is an OB/GYN nurse with 12 years experience as an obstetrical nurse and childbirth educator. She is certified as a specialist in women's health and is an experienced labor and postpartum doula in private practice. She is the founder and director of "Birth Matters Inc." a prenatal and parenting resource and support center. Throughout her career she has been involved in developing, teaching and expanding services in the community to educate families and support them as they face the changes, challenges and choices that childbearing brings.

Mail & Technical Support - Hannah Lyndon

Hannah is the heart beat of Chidlbirth.org, answering our mail, finding authors for articles and obtaining great links for our readers. She has a degree in nursing and a master's public health. She has taken some time off in her professional labor support (doula) role to be a mommy to her new daughter.

The Founder - Robin Elise Weiss

Chidlbirth.org is really the baby of Robin Elise Weiss, childbirth educator, doula, and mother of four. She has written anything here that doesn't have an author listed or isn't otherwise credited. Robin has such a busy life. She is no longer with Childbirth.org but her legacy lives on. You can find her residing at Pregnancy/Childbirth at About.com.

Other Authors

You will find that some of our articles are authored by other childbirth professionals. They are listed on the actual articles that they have written.